Outsider Chronicles: Thats So Wrong
by Dis Lexic
Summary: Getting reborn into the world of Harry Potter is...interesting. I'm sure that many reading would think that it'd be great, but what if you were Harry's sibling in a WBWL story? Yeah, thats me. Now I have to deal with annoying parents, gold diggers and annoying 'friends'. Still, its not all bad. At least Harry's new family and friends are the hero type.
1. Chapter 1

Outsider Chronicles: Thats So Wrong

Getting reborn into the world of Harry Potter is...interesting. I'm sure that many reading would think that it'd be great, but what if you were Harry's sibling in a WBWL story? Yeah, thats me. Now I have to deal with annoying parents, gold diggers and annoying 'friends'. Still, its not all bad. At least Harry's new family and friends are the hero type.

 **Remember this? Its the only story I've ever abandoned due to getting such an epic backlash that it was almost physically painful rather than because my Muse decided to get high and move onto something else. Well, I've decided to play Frankenstein resurrect it and switch out some parts to make it less likely to have you lot eviscerate me. Hopefully you'll like this better. Enjoy!**

Chapter 1

You know, I often wonder if maybe I pissed someone off last time through. Then I look at my friends and realize that no, I most definitely didn't. Sorry, I'm getting WAY ahead of myself. Lets back up a bit and start from the beginning. It all started after I died from having a shelf full of Harry Potter merchandise fall on me. Not the most grandiose of deaths, although it does make me think that maybe Death has a sense of humor considering where I woke up. Anyway, after I ied from blunt force trauma, I woke up again in the body of a baby. Not what I was expecting. But lets roll with it. What I can't roll with is the fact that someone upstairs seems to be having a laugh at my expense. What makes me say that? Well, my Father can turn into a stag, my mother is known for a fiery temper and green eyes and my Godfather is literally a mutt. I am fucking screwed! Oh, and you know the worst part? I'm not Harry. Oh no, I've been reborn as his twin brother, Brandon Potter. Something tells me that is is gonna end badly…

* * *

I WAS FUCKING RIGHT! The attack happened pretty much exactly as I was expecting, with Voldie barging into Harry and my room, killed Mum in front of our crib, before shooting the Killing Curse at Harry. I'm not entirely sure what happened next, but whatever it was resulted in the Curse being reflected straight back at Voldemort with far more force, blowing the Dark Lord to bits and carving a pair of horizontal lines into my cheek with the backlash. You can probably guess what happened next.

Dumbledore showed up, declared me the BWL and then did something that resulted in Harry getting dumped somewhere, probably the Dursley's front doorstep. And all I could do was sit there and watch, completely unable to do anything to stop it! Aww well, knowing worlds like this, hes probably going to end up in a MUCH better place. Probably with a bunch of hot girls while hes at it.

I on the other hand grew up surrounded by praise, luxury and with the best education money can buy. And you know what? I loathed every minute of it. I hated the attention, I hated the blatantly biased bullshit I was spoonfed and, more than anything, I hated the sycophants who sucked up to me. The worst of the lot was Ron and Ginny, the former who had somehow gotten it into his head that I was his best mate and the latter couldn't be in the same room as me for more than a minute without embarrassing herself To make matters worse, Molly and my Father seemed to be trying to push us together, despite our young age. I once overheard something about waiting to make sure I had a proper Light side wife when I grew up and Ginny was the best choice because she had red hair or some other inane reason.

* * *

Father seemed to be shoving his head further and further up his arse with each passing day. It had got to the point where he considered everyone who wasn't firmly in the Light to be Dark and worthy of suspicion at best and outright hostility at worst. That meant he had managed to alienate over a third of the Wizengamot and the only reason the Light side ever won anything these days was thanks to Sirius much more effective politicking.

As a result of my Fathers actions, I had ended up being slapped with a similar label and basically everyone I met who wasn't glued firmly to my Father's ass treated me with a detached politeness at best and veiled hostility at worst. It was apparent that most everyone expected me to be an arrogant, self centered, Light side moron and never gave me chance to prove otherwise. Mostly because my Father was usually hovering in the background, glowering at them. Bastard.

Still, it wasn't all bad. Despite the fact that my Father seemed insistent on completely neglecting to teach me anything in the form of proper manners in the Wizarding World, I managed to learn what I need to from the library and the paintings of my ancestors, many of whom were not best pleased by how James was acting. Oh, don't get me wrong, I wasn't too keen on how stuffy most of the Pureblood traditions were, but knowing them would help me get a good many people off my back and keep me from making unnecessary enemies.

Still, it wasn't all bad. I might think that the younger Weasleys are annoying little brats, but the Twins were a ton of fun to hang around with, Neville was a nice guy and having proper friends meant that he wasn't quite as shy and Susan Bones was a good friend, although recently Father had been getting shirty about me hanging around with her as the Bones had finally had enough of his antics and switched to the Gray faction, lead by the Greengrass house.

* * *

Anyway, getting off the subject of me growing up surrounded by sycophants and the constant battle with migraines as a result of it and onto the first event that would cause me even more headaches...but still put me in a much, much better position than I was before. It was the big day, I'd got my Hogwarts letter a few days before (heralding a party that I felt was frankly overkill) and Father and Sirius took me to Diagon alley to get my things. In order to speed things up, we split up after Father gave me some spending money and my first stop was Madam Malkin's.

The second I entered, Malkin immediately swept me onto a stool, babbling about how much of an honour it was to serve me, which I ignored. As I stood there waiting for Madam Malkin to finish, the shop door opened again and two girls entered the shop. The first girl was slightly shorter than average and carried herself with the air of a proper Pureblood princess. She had cold, gray eyes and hip length ash blonde hair and fair skin. She was wearing high quality, black and gold robes that I'm pretty sure were made of Acromantula silk.

Her companion was taller, with long, flame red hair tied into pigtails, light brown eyes and lightly tanned skin. She was wearing a red and yellow sundress that made it look like she was on fire. Unlike her companion, she had a slight smile and her eyes showed more emotion. Well, they did until they saw me, then both girls icy masks snapped up faster than I could blink. I suppressed the urge to sigh and roll my eyes.

"Heir Potter," said the gray haired girl with a curt nod.

"Please drop the formalities," I said, "Seriously, we're gonna be classmates this year, I really don't want to have a stick rammed up my arse all year."

Both girls looked rather taken aback.

"With that in mind, lets start this conversation again," I said with a smirk at the looks on their faces, "Hi Daphne, Tracey, are you looking forwards to Hogwarts?"

Tracey blinked and smirked back.

"Well, your certainly not what we were expecting," she said, "After how you acted towards Malfoy at the Minister's Yule Ball last year…"

"That was because he was being a right little toerag," I said, "Unlike some people, I prefer to actually get to know people as, well, people instead of basing my opinion of them on which side of the Wizengamot they sit on or the colour of their tie."

Malkin nudged me off the stool and took the fitted robes off to create the robes in the sizes I need. It took about five minutes before I was paying her and heading out the door.

"I'll see you ladies at school!" I called back as I left.

* * *

After that, life continued as normal, right up until the Sorting. No, really, absolutely nothing of interest happened. The only difference is that Ron ended up in my Compartment from the start (Bastard), Neville decided to stick around and Malfoy knew better than to try and engaged in a battle of wits armed only with what amounted to a wet breadstick. Hermione dropped by at one point and managed to immediately get on my bad side upon finding out who I was and listing all of the books I was mentioned in.

Now, despite that, I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt...right up until she blew any chance of me ever doing more than putting up with her out of the water, but thats for later.

* * *

The interesting event started at the Sorting. Naturally, I was already under a lot of scrutiny, despite still being in the middle of a massive crowd of other firsties. After all, unlike Harry, virtually everyone already knew what I looked like, no thanks to my Father pushing my fame at every opportunity, and my firey red hair was rather eye catching.

Anyway, after a bunch of students (Including Daphne and Tracey who ended up in Slytherin) were sorted, it was my turn and I stepped up to the plate, ignoring the whispers that erupted behind me as the had was placed on my head and dropped over my eyes. For a moment, all I could see was black. Then the Hat burst out laughing.

 _"Found something interesting?"_ I thought.

"Oh, yes indeed Mr Potter," said the Hat, "Very interesting indeed. You certainly do have a lot of interesting knowledge about this world...oh, whats this?"

There was a watery sensation and the Hat snorted again.

"Oh, thats just perfect!" he chuckled, "My my Mr Potter, you really are going to mess up the Status Quo."

" _Whats that supposed to mean?"_

"I'm afraid that I cannot tell you that," said the Hat, "However, I can give you some advice. Your strength will grow through conflict, so do try to play along on occasion."

" _Huh?"_

"Now, lets get you sorted," said the Hat, completely ignoring me, "Considering your attitude, Hufflepuff is right out. You're smart enough for Ravenclaw, although how much is actual intelligence and how much is from two runs through life is up for debate. You have the cunning and ambition for Slytherin, but I get the distinct impression that if I put you there you'll have killed Mr Malfoy before the weeks out. Plus, you're more likely to take any plans you have and use them as a battering ram to beat down whoever gets in your way...good god, its like Godric all over again! Theres no doubt about it, you'd be best suited for…"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

I ignored the cheers from the red table as I took of the Hat and headed over to join my table. I absently returned Percy's handshake as I sat down across from Hermione and glanced up at the Head table. As I did, I met Dumbledores eyes and immediately felt a slight pressure on my Occlumency shields. I immediately shoved back, hard, making the old geezers head jerk back. That done, I turned back to the table and the mouth watering spread on display. I'd deal with the old man later, right now I was more interested in filling my belly.

As I ate, I scanned the room, noting that the Slytherin First Years already seemed to be creating their power bases. Malfoy was sitting with Crabbe, Goyle, Nott and Zabini, while Daphne seemed to be holding court with Tracey, Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode, as well as Cedric Diggory and Susan Bones who were sitting close enough to comfortably talk at the Hufflepuff table. Not really surprising considering that everyone there was part of the Gray faction, with the Parkinson and Bulstrodes having been recent additions following the deaths of their Lords and leaving their seats to their wives.

I frowned. God I wish I could join them rather than inevitably be stuck with the hypocrites that made up the Light...

* * *

That thought continued to eat at me for weeks after the start of school, adding to the pulsing headache my fellow students were causing for me. Ron was easily one of the worst, constantly trying to pull me away from my homework to mess around and waste time with him. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for having fun, but Ron annoys me at the best of times and I really didn't want to fall behind in my schoolwork. Eventually, I got sick of his interruptions, took up his offer of playing chess and kicked his arse within six moves. I left him staring at his shattered King in disbelief as I went back to my Potions essay.

Speaking of Potions, Snape was...well, Snape. He made absolutely no attempt to hide the fact he hated my guts and was always looking for an excuse to take points or stick me in detention. My response was to act like a model student around him and smile whenever he started up, much to Ron's confusion and Snapes ire. Every time I did it, Snape went a very interesting shade of purple and I was expecting to give him an aneurysm by the end of the year.

* * *

Anyway, time marched on and before long Halloween rolled around and with it, the inevitable fight with the Troll. Naturally, its started like you'd expect, with Hermione trying to help Ron and then running off to the loo for a full day after he insulted her. Now, heres the thing, I could have stepped in to help, but Hermione was quickly proving to be a right pain in the neck. Between spewing information verbatim from the coursebooks to answer questions, a seemingly compulsive need to be top of the class and a horrible habit of nagging everyone in Gryffindor to study nearly 24/7, she was in dire need of a scare to set her straight.

Still, I wasn't about to let her get hurt, so when Quirrel showed up yelling about the Troll, I swiftly headed up to the Third Floor after giving Percy the slip. My intention was to get Hermione out of the bathroom before the troll arrived. Unfortunately, it seems that I was to late as a truly foul stench reached his nostrils, a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one seems to clean. I turned the corner, just in time to see the Troll stump past the end of the corridor and into the girls bathroom. It was a horrible sight which, like many other things I'd experienced, was on a completely different level to how it appeared in the film or books. Maybe it was because I could smell the damn thing as well?

* * *

Anyway, I ran down the hall and reached the bathroom, just in time to hear a terrified scream. I kicked the door down and ran inside, pulling out my wand as I went. Inside I found Hermione cowering against the wall opposite, looking scared out of her wits as the troll advanced on her, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went.

"Tch, I think I should have brought some help…" I muttered, "Well, I'm here now, so…."

I took a deep breath and pointed my wand at the Trolls head.

"HEY UGLY!" I yelled, "CONFRINGO!"

The blasting curse slammed into the back of the Troll's noggin with the force of a Bludger...and did precisely no damage whatsoever. It did however get the Troll's attention and thats exactly what I was going for. The Troll grunted and turned to me, hefting its massive club above its head. I gulped and took a step back as the massive beast loomed above me. Hmm, maybe I should have thought this through…

I dove out of the way as the Troll swung at me, demolishing another toilet.

"HERMIONE, GET OUT OF HERE!" I yelled at the girl as I ducked under another swing.

Unfortunately, it looked like Hermione was frozen in terror in her little corner. I'm not even sure that she heard me.

"Tch…"

I pointed my wand at the floor under the Troll's feet and cast a Glasius. Instantly, the water that covered the floor from the broken toilets and sinks froze, dropping the Troll on his behind with a loud crash. I ran around it and grabbed Hermione by the back of the robes, hauling her to her feet and frog marching her towards the door, snapping her out of her daze in the process.

"Wha…"

"Come on now, time to go, quickly now before…"

I was cut off by a loud crash as the Troll finally regained its feet, let out a roar and swung its club at us. There was no time to dodge, so I shoved Hermione away, out of the path of the club. I'd died once already after all and, annoying or no, Hermione was still just a kid with her whole life ahead of her. I turned to face the Troll and, rather pointlessly, crossed my arms in front of my face as if to block the strike

"BRANDON!" screamed Hermione as the club slammed down onto me.

My vision momentarily blurred and, in a moment of complete madness, instead of just trying to block the blow, I swung my fist right bbefore the club hit me...and shattered into pieces as the Troll was sent flying back and through the bathroom wall as if it had been the one struck with a massive blow instead of my apparently weak blow.

"Wha…" I gasped as I stared at the brand new hole in the wall, wide eyed as the dust from the blast floated down around me.

Before I could even think about asking more however, the sound of running footsteps reached my ears and Snape, Mcgonagall and Quirrell burst into the room.

* * *

After the Troll incident, things mostly calmed down for the rest of the year. I'm pretty sure that Dumbledore kept trying to steer me towards either the room with the Mirror in or the Third Floor corridor due to the sheer number of times I somehow ended up in the vicinity of the latter due to the stairs moving and the fact I somehow ended up in the mirror room after a days studying at the library. Admittedly, I was a little curious as to what I'd see in the mirror anyway, so I decided to take a peek when I did arrive.

Looking back at me from the enchanted glass was an older version of me wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with a pool cue in one hand and a pint in the other while on the other side of the projected pool table, an older looking Harry was lining up his shot. Both adults were clearly talking and laughing, although there was no sound. I snorted. Interesting image, but it got the idea across. My greatest desire was to be able to reconcile and actually build a relationship with Harry. I'm not entirely sure why the mirror depicted that as us playing pool at a bar though.

I shook my head and left the room, ignoring the slight shimmer that was near the door. Dumbledore could pull the strings however he wanted, but I'd already severed mine. I wouldn't dance to his tune unless it benefited me and going after the stone was one thing I wouldn't be doing. Ever.

* * *

Unfortunately, some people were making it rather hard to keep to that intent. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but Ron seemed insistent on trying to figure out what Fluffy was guarding. Apparently the idiot had ended up in the mutts room after nearly getting caught by Filch after stumbling into the Forbidden Corridor. It didn't help that he was also trying to convince me to help him get rid of Norbert the Dragon. Hermione wasn't helping matters as she was insistent on trying to figure out who Flamel was and kept asking for my help. Eventually, I just told her who he was, resulting in Ron and Hermione pooling their knowledge and coming to the conclusion that someone was trying to steal the Stone and that it was hidden on the Third Floor. Ron tried to convince me that we should go and stop whoever it was, but I decided to go talk to Flitwick instead.

I would have gone to Mcgonagall, but she was likely to brush us off and not listen. Flitwick at least heard us out and agreed that it was better to be safe than sorry, especially since we managed to figure it out based on the clues provided. With my good deed for the day done, I went to sleep with my curtains charmed to shock anyone who tried to open them before sun up. Considering Ron's hair was stood on end the next day and he kept glaring at me, I have a feeling that he might have tried to wake me up at some point.

In other news, apparently Flitwick had cranked up the defences without telling Dumbledore and, as a result, had caught the big fish, resulting in Voldies shade fleeing and leaving Quirril to die a horrible and painful death.

And with that, the first year came to an end with me acing most of the exams, with the exception of Potions and History, but that wasn't really that big a loss. I did have to wonder how much my refusal to dance to Dumbles tune had annoyed the old geezer though…

* * *

Third Person POV, Dumbledore

Albus Dumbledore was annoyed. After all his hard work, all of his plans for this year had fallen apart. It had all started when Harry Potter, the true Boy Who Lived, had failed to show up and, upon investigating, turned out to have vanished years ago, followed shortly by the Dursleys being tortured to death by persons unknown. With his main pawn gone, Dumbledore had been forced to switch his focus to Brandon, his back up. The problem was that he'd left Harry with the Dursleys to make him a malleable little pawn through beating him down and making Dumbledore seem like a great and magnanimous savior. Brandon on the other hand, would need a different and much more difficult method of moulding him into a suitable mytre. And that was before you take into account the fact he was nothing like how Dumbledore had expected!

Brandon Potter was incredibly savvy, far more so than he should have been considering the lack of education James should have given him, and somehow managed to avoid moving like he was supposed to at every turn. The old man had planned to force a confrontation between Brandon and Tom in the forest by using a detention as an excuse, but the brat refused to do anything that would warrant such a punishment! Hell, he was practically a model student! This wasn't how the son of James Potter was supposed to act!

He was supposed to be just like his Father, irreverent, charismatic and always getting into trouble, not attentive and antisocial! Hell, he didn't even take the bait and go after the Stone like Dumbledore had expected, instead choosing to go to the one person on the staff who could have changed the traps without alerting him. Dumbledore wasn't very pleased about what Flitwick had done, but the half Goblin had completely ignored his disappointed Grandfather routine and instead had told him that if he wanted to keep a dangerous items in a school, hed better make damned sure that they were properly secured. To make matters worse, it appeared that Flitwick had written to Flamal and the old Alchemist had shown up in a towering rage that Dumbledore would take the Stone and stick it in a school of all places. Yeah, the old man never did get permission to move the Stone, but since when had that stopped Dumbledore? It was for the Greater Good after all.

So yeah, now Dumbledore was down a Philosopher's Stone, his plans for first year was in tatters and he still had to find a new DADA professor for next year. It was safe to say that he was not a happy bunny. Now he had to find a way to either control Brandon or find Harry, neither of which he had any idea of how to start with. And that was a feeling he wasn't used to and didn't care for in the least.

 **Right, thats the first chapter redone. Since I've basically got the first two years done, I'm going to post them as their own chapters. The other years won't be like that, although thats mainly because I'm skipping the third year due to having literally nothing to do in it and because the story really starts moving in Fourth Year.**

 **So, any ideas what Brandon's mysterious power is? Heres a clue, it has nothing to do with Magic and definitely isnt a Sacred Gear. And no, thats not be being sarcastic. That said, if I were to tell you that you might have already met the Harry of this universe if you read my Vaults, you might be able to guess where I plan to go with this.**

 **And that'll do for this one. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!**


	2. Chapter 2

Outsider Chronicles: Thats So Wrong

Getting reborn into the world of Harry Potter is...interesting. I'm sure that many reading would think that it'd be great, but what if you were Harry's sibling in a WBWL story? Yeah, thats me. Now I have to deal with annoying parents, gold diggers and annoying 'friends'. Still, its not all bad. At least Harry's new family and friends are the hero type.

 **And here we go with year two. I've made more than a few alterations to this, so have fun and enjoy!**

Chapter 2

Finally, the summer had arrived and with it, a chance to get well away from Ron and Hermione for a bit. Now, don't get me wrong, Hermione at least had enough brains in her skull to realize I absolutely hated my fame, but she was annoying for entirely different reasons, mainly her study habits and the fact she put far too much stock in books and authority figures for my liking. Plus, for some reason they were under the impression that we always needed to be together and tended to get upset whenever I disappeared to do my own thing, usually a run around the Great Lake to keep in shape. Plus, it meant that I could get back to my favorite hobbies, Parkour and martial arts.

Yep, I was a martial artist and a pretty good one too. At some point in the past, one of the Potter family heads had been a keen Fencer and had set up a room for it, complete with padded floors, mirrored walls and enchanted dummies to serve as opponents with settings that ran the gambit from beginner to what had to be Olympic level fencing, along with more combat ready settings to teach how to use a sword in real combat. True, it was meant for Fencing, but I'd been able to figure out how to modify the dummy's to serve as sparring partners in other martial arts.

I'd stumbled on the room when I was five during a boredom induced exploration of the extensive Potter mansion and had been using it ever since to blow off steam. It helped that my Father and Sirius had no idea it even existed. Yeah, the Potter mansion was that bloody large.

* * *

Anyway, I spent a lot of time in my little hide away that summer, both to avoid my Father, who seemed rather put out by something, and to ensure that my skills with a sword were up to scratch. I'd need them this year after all. Yes, I did indeed plan to deal with the Basilisk, even if Ginny did end up being the one snatched. Why? For the same reason I helped Hermione, despite finding her annoying. Shes a kid. Until I find concrete proof that I'm being potioned or something and she knows about it, I'm not going to leave her to die in a hole.

Of course, it would be nice if I could prevent it in the first place, but that was basically impossible. I had no real way of getting at the Diary at the moment since, even if I were to swallow my pride and visit the Weasleys, I'd have no reason to go snooping around Ginny's room. Hell, we even went to the Alley at different times, mostly due to the fact that my Father was busy with work on the day that Lockhart was there and the Weasleys would be going. Besides, even if I could get my hands on the Diary, what would I do with it? I wasn't powerful enough to cast Fiendfyre and even if I was, I wasn't dumb enough to try, and I was fresh out of Basilisk Venom. I suppose I could hand it over to the Unspeakables, but I really didn't want to go anywhere near those nutjobs. If they found out I was a reincarnated soul, they'd have me on a dissection slab before you can as Vivisection. With that in mind, I really didn't have a choice but to wait it out and go into the Chamber prepared and ready. Well, just as soon as I figured out how to enter it without being able to speak Parseltongue.

* * *

Moving on, the next interesting thing that happened was when I went shopping for my Second Year supplies and ran into Luna. It was...rather odd to say the least.

I was enjoying an icecream at Fortescue's after finishing my shopping and let go by Father to do my own thing, when someone plonked a large bowl of pudding flavored ice cream down across from me and plunked themselves down in the seat. I looked up with a raised eyebrow to see none other than Luna Lovegood sat across from me.

"Hello Brandon Potter," she said in a dreamy voice.

"Errrr, can I help you?" I asked, feeling rather confused about this state of affairs.

I'd never actually met Luna in person before, both because she was a year younger and because the Lovegoods had switched to the Gray block after Fortuna Lovegood nearly died in an accident, resulting in Father throwing a temper tantrum and cutting off all ties with them. It really didn't help that the Lovegood reputation of being completely and utterly around the twist was even worse with three of them.

"Oh, my boss wanted to know what I thought of you, so I thought I should get to know you," said Luna airily as she dug into her ice cream.

"Um, and your boss is who exactly?" I asked.

"Hmm, you'll see," she said.

My eye twitched. Oh, it was one of THOSE Luna's.

"So, what do you think of me?" I asked.

"Hmm, I'm not sure," said Luna, "I think I need to observe more. I'll see you at school."

She stood and skipped away with her ice cream, leaving me with a pounding head and a twitching eye. Something tells me shes going to be a pain this year…

* * *

After my encounter with Luna, nothing much happened for a while. Dobby never showed up and, as a result, no one got stuck outside the Barrier, so that was relatively boring. When we got to Hogwarts, classes started up, including Lockharts unfortunately. The man was nauseating to be around at best and I regularly found myself contemplating figuring out a way to feed him to the Basilisk.

Speaking of the oversized garden snake, Halloween rolled around before I knew it, bringing with it the petrification of Mrs Norris...which I was nowhere near, thank god. Frankly, I'd like to see anyone try to pin the Heir of Slytherin title on me considering I couldn't speak Parseltongue.

* * *

After that, the next big event was the Dueling club, which I only attended because A, Hermione wouldn't shut up about it (she'd been driving me barmy gushing over the ponce all year up until that point) and I really, really wanted to show off some. Sure, I may not like the fame of being the BWL (fake as it was), but one thing I was good at was dueling.

Its not really that surprising to say that learning Martial arts had resulted in my skills in Magical dueling going through the roof. I had more stamina than the average Wizard, was faster on my feet and, if I was disarmed, was fast and agile enough to avoid any follow up spells designed to take me out and take out my opponent without magic. Of course, that wouldn't fly in an official duel, but it'd keep me alive if nothing else.

"Oh, will you stop pouting Bran?" asked Hermione as she and Ron walked up to me where I was leaning against the wall waiting for the 'lesson' to begin, "This'll be really interesting!"

I rolled my eyes.

"Excuse me if I don't think that an idiot who doesn't even understand the basics of fighting knows a thing about Dueling," I muttered.

Hermione ignored me. She seemed to do that a lot whenever I said something vaguly intelligent. For some reason she thought I was an idiot.

"So, who do you think will be running it?" asked Ron.

"Preferably Flitwick since hes an actual professional Duelist, but I have a feeling its gonna be…" I said, before I was cut off by the squeals of girls as Lockhart flounced onto the strip, grinning widely, "Yep, him."

Lockhart waved an arm for silence.

"Gather round, gather round!" he called, "Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent! Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions — for full details, see my published works."

He gave a blinding smile and I rolled my eyes in disgust. I could already see some people heading for the door.

"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," said Lockhart, flashing a wide smile, "He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry — you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"

"Wouldn't it be good if they finished each other off?" Ron muttered in my ear.

I nodded absently in agreement, more interested in analyzing the stances of the two Duelists. I'd learnt Dueling from one of the Paintings of my ancestors, specifically the man who was responsible for creating the Dueling room, Lord Salvatori Potter. He was an...interesting fellow, a complete and utter idiot in just about everything short of Dueling. In his day, he had been the top Duelist in the world and he'd taught me a lot. Those lessons were coming in handy now as I examined the two teachers. Right off the bat I could tell that neither of them were actual Duelists and both would be creamed in moments on the Circuit. However, Snape was clearly an experienced fighter, as indicated from the tensing of his muscles and the way he was watching Lockharts every movement. Lockhart on the other hand...well, his stance was flashy, there was way too many wasted movements and he was practically shouting his first move to the rafters. In short, exactly like I was expecting.

"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position," Lockhart said and I immediately stifled a snort.

That stance would see him laughed out of the little league Dueling Circuit.

"On the count of three, we will cast our first spells," continued the ponce, "Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."

"I wouldn't bet on that," I muttered, watching Snape baring his teeth.

"One — two — three —"

Both of teachers (and I use the term very loosly) swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent.

An instant later, there was a flash of light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet. He flew backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to sprawl on the floor.

Malfoy and some of the other Slytherins cheered. Hermione was dancing on tiptoes, as were a number of other girls.

"Do you think he's all right?" she squealed through her fingers.

I was too busy grumbling about the lack of proper Dueling wards to respond. Seriously, if you're going to teach us how to duel, at least do it properly!

"Well, there you have it!" said Lockhart, tottering back onto the platform, "That was a Disarming Charm — as you see, I've lost my wand — ah, thank you, Miss Brown — yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy — however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see . . ."

He trailed off when he caught Snapes murderous glare. Apparently he wasn't totally without survival instincts.

"Perhaps it would be prudent to first teach the students how to block unfriendly spells," sneered Snape.

"A-ah yes, an excellent idea," said Lockhart, "Lets have a volunteer pair...Potter, Weasley, come on up."

"Forgive me Professor, but I feel that it would be best to chose someone who actually knows which end of the wand is which," said Snape, making Ron glare at him, "May I suggest someone from my own house? Malfoy for instance?"

He turned away and indicated for Malfoy to clamber up onto the stage as I did the same. We stepped up to the middle of the strip, Malfoy with an arrogant smirk and swagger, while I just analyzed his stance and movements. I narrowed my eyes slightly as my vision momentarily blurred and flashed purple, before I received a frankly massive amount of information out of nowhere. It was so unexpected that I jumped slightly. Malfoy seemed to notice my surprise and his smirk widened.

"Scared Potter?" he sneered.

"Not really," I said, "After all, you still can't manage to turn a beetle into a button and only past first year because your Daddy leaned on the Board."

I blinked. How the fuck did I know that? It was apparently true though as Malfoy went red and swelled up in rage.

"Alright, thats enough you two," said Lockhart before the other idiot could explode, "Lets begin. Wands at the ready!"

Malfoy and I both saluted, although it looked like Malfoy wanted to ram is wand into my eye rather than salute me with it, and stepped apart until Lockhart told us to stop.

"When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents — only to dis-

arm them — we don't want any accidents — one . . . two . . .three —"

My heightened intuition that had come out of nowhere alerted me to Malfoy's early cast before he'd even started moving and I flicked my wand, deflecting the spell Malfoy had sent my way on two and responded with my own with a second flick. A bolt of crimson light shot out with the speed of a bullet and caught Malfoy full in the face, sending him shooting back up the other end of the strip as his wand went in the other direction.

"Impressive, you cheated and still couldn't hit me," I drawled as I leant back on my heels.

Malfoy scowled and snatched his wand back from Snape as he scrambled to his feet.

"Serpensortia!"

The end of his wand exploded and I stilled as a large, gray snake erupted from the tip. The snake hissed angrily as it hit the floor with a thud and raised itself up. As it did, I caught sight of the inside of its mouth and paled.

"Are you mad!?" I spluttered, "Of all the snakes you could have conjured, you went with a Black Mamba?!"

Malfoy's face lit up at the slight tremor in my tone.

"Whats the matter Potter, scared?" he sneered.

"As a matter of fact, I am," I said, keeping very still as I kept both eyes on the angry snake.

I also noticed that a lot of Muggleborns and halfbloods looked equally wary.

"The Black Mamba is one of the most dangerous snakes in the world," I continued, "And I'm including Magical snakes in there as well. Its fast, aggressive and with a venom so potent that if it bit someone in this room, I highly doubt that they'd survive long enough to get treatment."

"I find that hard to believe Potter," sneered Snape, "I have plenty of antidotes available."

"You really want to risk it?" I asked.

There was a moment's silence, before Snape gave a jerky nod.

"Very well Potter, you've made your point," he said, almost spitting the words as if they tasted sour, "I'll get rid of it…"

"Allow me!" shouted Lockhart.

He brandished his wand at the snake and there was a loud bang as it flew ten feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack. Enraged and hissing furiously, it coiled itself up and launched itself at the nearest student.

Without thinking, I ran forwards, skidding to a stop before the snake, my fist already in motion. My fist hit the snake in the face...and the reptile exploded like it had been hit by an RPG round, sending blood and gore spraying all over Malfoy, Lockhart and Snape. The mangled body fell to the floor with a soft thump as everyone stared, wide eyed. I wasn't much better, but I pushed it off for now in favour of turning to the snakes would-be target to make sure they were alright. Much to my surprise, I found myself looking into the misty eyes of Luna Lovegood, who was eyeing me with some amusement.

"I think I've made my decision," said the odd girl, "I think you'll make an excellent addition to our group."

Before I could ask what in the hell she was talking about, the dotty girl turned and skipped towards the doors, humming quietly to herself as if she hadn't just nearly had a close encounter with an angry snake.

* * *

After the Dueling Club, I once again found myself the talk of the school, although this time the discussions were split into three. Some (mostly those who followed Dueling) were talking about how good I was on the Strip and how I should enter and take part in the upcoming Myrddin Cup next year. Those rumors I had no problem with whatsoever as the praise was well earned. Whether or not I deserved to get into the biggest dueling tournament in the world was another question entirely though.

The other conversations were a tad less savory. Some were talking about how I saved Luna and how I'd somehow managed to turn the snakes own attack momentum back on itself without apparently using Magic. Needless to say, some idiots were crying Dark Magic, although some were grumbling that I'd saved Luna from being bitten, mostly upper year Ravenclaws, including, much to my horror, one of the Prefects. What kind of twisted person wishes a painful death on a girl simply for being a little different?! Hell, she might cause me a headache in every conversation, but I found Luna to be a bright and charming girl I was happy to call friend. Ron was less happy that I was hanging out with 'Loony Lovegood', but I didn't care what he thought.

The final rumor also perterened to the Dueling Club and was apparently being spread by Malfoy and his goons that I cheated...somehow. Yeah, I wasn't to sure on the whys either. Fortunately, Flitwick cleared it up by giving a proper explanation of Dueling and the rules of the sport, although I could have done without being used as a human punching bag.

* * *

Anyway, time continued to roll along and before I knew it, Hermione and Ron had ambushed me and dragged me off to Myrtle's bathroom where they showed me their plan to try and get some information out of the Slytherin's.

"Polyjuice potion? Really?" I growled as I eyed the cauldron of what appeared to be slowly bubbling mud.

"Yes, is there a problem with that?" asked Hermione.

I glanced up at her and raised an eyebrow.

"You are planning on attempting to infiltrate a nest of snakes," I said flatly, "And I mean that literally. Malfoy and his cronies might be idiots, but the upper years know exactly what to look for to locate imposters."

Hermione looked stunned at that.

"Who were you planning to use anyway?" I asked.

Hermione shook her head and pulled out a vial with a hair in it.

"I got this of Millicent Bulstrodes robes," she said.

I groaned and let my head fall into my hands.

"Hermione, did you do ANY research at all?" I moaned, "Or are you trying to get caught?"

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.

"Bulstrode is Gray," I said.

That just got me two blank looks.

"You...have done absolutely no reading into how the Wizengamot works, have you?" I asked with a twitching eye.

"No, but what does it matter?" asked Hermione, "Their all Slytherins, right?"

"True, but in the Snake Pit, things tend to be a tad unstable," I said, "Outside the common room, they put out a united front, but inside there is a state of constant back and forth between the Dark and Gray factions. If you tried to approach Malfoy looking like Bulstrode, you'd be immediately called out for being an imposter."

I shot a look at Ron.

"I would have thought you at least would know some of this," I said.

Ron shrugged.

"Never paid any attention in those lessons," he said.

"And people wonder why the Weasleys are in the shitter," I muttered too quietly to be heard by either of my 'friends'.

I huffed and pushed myself to my feet.

"I'm not helping you with this," I said flatly, "As the Heir to a high ranking Light house, there's too much risk that something could go wrong. I strongly suggest that the two of you reconsider as well. Polyjuice potion is a risky move, even without the potential political problems."

The image of Hermione as a cat came to mind. I nodded to the two twelve year olds and left the bathroom.

* * *

After that, things continue as they were want to do, with lessons, homework and stopping by the hospital wing to scold Hermione and Ron for being so utterly reckless, despite my warnings. Yeah, they'd gone through with it and now Hermione was coughing up hairballs for a month.

On the other hand, considering she missed the horror that was valentine's day, I think she might have been the lucky one. I'd ended up with a gaggle of them following me around until I had enough and just climbed into the rafters to hide until they went away.

In other news, the Diary never showed up in Myrtle's bathroom. Not sure why, but I suspect the brown sticky stuff will hit the rapidly rotating blades slightly earlier than normal this time through.

On the other hand, some things happened as I expected. Hermione got Petrified on the day of a Quidditch Match, Hagrid got arrested, Dumbledore was sacked and security cranked up to eleven. As such, I was busy making preparations for the face off with the Basilisk and Riddle, mostly by practicing some really powerful spells that would help blind the Basilisk or at least stop it from killing me with a look.

* * *

Then, finally, the big day arrived. I was making my way towards the Room of Requirement for some last minute training before the next class when McGonagall's voice echoed through the halls.

"All students to return to their House dormitories at once. All teachers to the 1st floor corridor. Immediately, please."

I stopped and took a deep breath. This was it, my first real battle. Well, this'll be fun…

It didn't take me long to reach Myrtles bathroom where I ducked behind a suit of armour on a plinth to listen in on the teachers.

"As you can see, the Heir of Slytherin has left another message," said Mcgonagall, "Our worst fear has been realized. A student has been taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself! The students must be sent home at once...I fear that this is the end of Hogwarts..."

At that moment, Lockhart sauntered up, blinding smile on his lips as usual.

"So sorry — dozed off — what have I missed?" he said.

He didn't seem to notice that the other teachers were looking at him with something remarkably like hatred. Snape stepped forward.

"Just the man," he said, "The very man. A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your moment has come at last."

Lockhart blanched.

"That's right, Gilderoy," chipped in Professor Sprout. "Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?"

"I — well, I —" sputtered Lockhart.

"Yes, didn't you tell me you were sure you knew what was inside it?" piped up Professor Flitwick.

"D-did I? I don't recall —"

"I certainly remember you saying you were sorry you hadn't had a crack at the monster before Hagrid was arrested," said Snape, clearly enjoying himself, "Didn't you say that the whole affair had been bungled, and that you should have been given a free rein from the first?"

Lockhart stared around at his stony-faced colleagues.

"I — I really never — you may have misunderstood —"

"We'll leave it to you, then, Gilderoy," said Professor McGonagall. "Tonight will be an excellent time to do it. We'll make sure everyone's out of your way. You'll be able to tackle the monster all

by yourself. A free rein at last."

Lockhart gazed desperately around him, but nobody came to the rescue. He didn't look remotely handsome anymore. His lip was trembling, and in the absence of his usual toothy grin, he looked weak-chinned and feeble.

"V-very well," he said. "I'll — I'll be in my office, getting —getting ready."

And he left the room.

"Right," said Professor McGonagall, whose nostrils were flared, "that's got him out from under our feet. The Heads of Houses should go and inform their students what has happened. Tell them the Hogwarts Express will take them home first thing tomorrow. Will the rest of you please make sure no students have been left outside their dormitories."

"Before we go, who was it that was taken?" asked Pomfrey, although she looked like she really didn't want to know.

Mcgonagall sighed.

"Ginny Weasley."

Well, that confirmed that at least. I waited a moment after the teachers dispersed, before darting across the corridor and into the room. I ignored Myrtle in favour of scanning the sinks for the snake mark and quickly found it. I pointed my wand into the basin.

"Serpensortia," I muttered and a small garden snake appeared with a pop, "Imperio."

I directed the controlled snake to hiss at the tap and the sink immediately opened.

"Huh, I can't believe that worked," I muttered as I vanished the snake, "Well, once more into the breach I guess…"

I took a deep breath and jumped into the pipe. I did my best to control my fall, although it was rather hard considering the twists and turns in the pipe, not to mention the slippery gunk that covered the walls. I really didn't want to know what that stuff was…

I eventually reached the bottom and shot out, rolling to my feet as I hit the floor and looking around, ready for an ambush. I didn't think it'd happen, but you can never be too careful. Once I was sure I was alone, I headed down the hall, keeping my eyes and ears open for any would be attack. I paused when I reached the skin and gulped. It was only when I saw the skin that I realized just how big my next opponent really was.

"Well, there's no way I can back out now," I muttered, "This is gonna suck…"

I continued through the tunnel until I reached a large door with snakes coiling over the surface. I took another deep breath and repeated my trick from the bathroom, allowing the doors to creak open.

I found myself standing at the end of a very long, dimly lit chamber, lined with towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents that rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place. I have to admit, the place must have been stunning in its heyday and even now, after centuries of neglect, it still had an air of grandeur to it.

I made my way through the chamber, keeping my eyes peeled for any sign of movement, but there was nothing. Before long, I reached the end pillars and a statue high as the Chamber itself loomed into view, standing against the back wall. Its face was ancient and monkeyish, with a long, thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of the wizard's sweeping stone robes, where two enormous gray feet stood on the smooth Chamber floor. Between the feet, facedown, lay a small, black-robed figure with flaming-red hair.

However, I wasn't interested in Ginny right now, I was more interested in the figure stood off to the side. I hadn't used a light spell since I got down into the chamber, so my vision had adjusted to the gloom, allowing me to see him with little problem. Riddle smirked slightly when he saw I'd spotted him and stepped out of the shadows.

"Not bad Potter," he said, "I suppose Ginny's stories about you weren't totally inaccurate after all."

"Depends on what stories she told," I said, "If it was the one about me defeating the mummy horde or a flock of rampaging dragons, they're not true at all."

Riddle snorted.

"So I guessed," he drawled as he eyed me curiously.

"So, who exactly are you?" I asked, "You don't look like any student I've seen in school."

Riddle smiled thinly.

"Oh, I'm just a kind stranger little Ginny Weasley poured out all her problems to," said the Horcrux.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, mostly to keep in character.

I had no idea if the prime soul would gain anything from this bit when it was destroyed, so I wasn't about to give any hint of my future knowledge.

"The diary," said Riddle, "My diary. Little Ginny's been writing in it for months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes — how her brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with secondhand robes and books, how she didn't think famous, good, great Brandon Potter would ever like her. . . ."

All the time he spoke, Riddle's eyes never left my face. There was an almost hungry look in them.

"It's very boring, having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven-year-old girl," he went on. "But I was patient. I wrote back. I was sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply loved me. No one's ever understood me like you, Tom. . . . I'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in. . . . It's like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket. . . ."

Riddle laughed, a high, cold laugh that suited him perfectly. It still made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up though.

"If I say it myself, Brandon, I've always been able to charm the people I needed. So Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted. . . . I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful, far more powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Weasley a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into her . . ."

"Possession," I breathed, "Ah, so thats it. You're not a memory, you're a Horcrux, aren't you?"

I ignored the way Riddles eyes widened in utter disbelief.

"So I suppose you had Ginny kill all the roosters so they couldn't accidentally stop your Monster?" I continued, "Then, when the Basilisk was safe, you had her release it and set it on Muggleborns and write messages on the wall. Rather clever all told."

Riddle sneered.

"Well, aren't you a clever one?" he said, "Yes, all correct. I must say, I am rather surprised. I was expecting you to be another dull Light side fool in Dumbledores pocket."

I snorted.

"I'm no ones puppet," I said, "Although there is one thing I'm curious about. If you're a Horcrux, who is your prime self? Only a truly depraved soul would create a Phylactery, but I can't remember any Dark Lords named Tom."

Riddle scowled.

"Of course not you fool," he sneered, "You really think I'd keep my filthy Muggle Fathers old name? No, I fashioned myself a new name after I left school, one that would strike fear into the hearts of the entire Wizarding World!"

He spun around and used Ginny's wand to write his name in fire, before flicking his wrist and making the letters rearrange themselves.

"Yes, a new name with which I would use to prove to the world that I am the greatest sorcerer to ever live!"

I glanced between the flaming words and Riddle, before I did something he probably wasn't expecting. I burst out laughing. Immediately, the manic grin was wiped of Riddles face and replaced with a scowl.

"What are you laughing at Potter?!" he snarled.

"Oh, I just find it funny that you used an anagram to create a name that means 'Flight from Death' in french," I said, "You are right though, that does tell the world what you really are. A coward, too afraid of death to live and make something of yourself and willing to start a war and slaughter countless innocent people over the fact that your daddy didn't love you."

Riddle was rapidly going purple and I think that, had he had a body, he would probably have had a heart attack by now.

"Unfortunately for you, I have no intention of allowing you to resurrect here," I said, all pretences of humor abandoned.

"You really think you can stop me?!" snarled Riddle, "You, the half blood spawn of a mudblood whore?! You have no idea of the powers I have at my disposal!"

"True, but I do know that you currently can't use any of them," I said, "However, even if you could, that wouldn't stop me from fighting. You won't be taking Ginny's life tonight."

Riddle stared at me for a moment.

"Tell me something Potter, why are you so insistent on protecting this girl?" he asked through gritted teeth, "I was under the impression you didn't like her."

I snorted.

"Yes, lovestruck preteen girls always know what their crush is thinking," I drawled, "While it is true I find her a tad annoying with that stupid crush on my title, thats no where near enough to make me leave her for dead. She's an innocent life, something worth protecting, no matter the cost!"

Riddle opened his mouth, but froze. Music was coming from somewhere. Riddle whirled around to stare down the empty Chamber. The music was growing louder. It was eerie, spine-tingling, unearthly; it lifted the hair on my scalp and made my heart feel as though it was swelling to twice its normal size. Then, as the music reached such a pitch that I felt it vibrating inside my ribs, flames erupted at the top of the nearest pillar.

A crimson bird the size of a swan had appeared, piping its beautiful music to the vaulted ceiling. It had a glittering golden tail as long as a peacock's and gleaming golden talons, which were gripping a ragged bundle. A second later, the bird was flying straight at me and dropped

the ragged thing it was carrying at my feet, then landed heavily on my shoulder. As it folded its great wings, I looked up and saw it had a long, sharp golden beak and a beady black eye.

The bird stopped singing and fixed Riddle with a piercing stare.

"That's a phoenix. . . ." said Riddle, staring shrewdly back at it.

"Fawkes? But why would…?" I started.

"Because, Mr Potter, you have proven that you are worthy," said the bundle.

I blinked and opened it, revealing the Sorting Hat. Well, this was...unexpected.

"Worthy?" I asked, "Worthy of what?"

Before the Sorting Hat could respond, Riddle burst out laughing.

"So, these are the greatest weapons the Hero has at his disposal?" he sneered, "A songbird and an old hat. Pathetic."

He turned away and hissed at the statue. In response, the statue started to shake as the mouth slowly opened. Riddle turned back to me and sneered.

"Lets test the power of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Slytherin, against the famous Brandon Potter," he sneered.

I shut my eyes tight and readied myself, inwardly thanking whatever deity listening I'd thought to train in blind fighting. I was far from a master, but it'd do for now. Something huge hit the stone floor of the Chamber and I felt the impact through my shoes. Riddle hissed something and I heard something massive slithering towards me. I gritted my teeth and readied myself.

I sidestepped the Basilisks first lunge and went to run. I couldn't fight the giant snake here, so I needed to find somewhere where I had the advantage. Unfortunately, the snake seemed to anticipate my move and slammed its tail down in front of me.

"Aw shit," I muttered as Riddle's cold laughter filled my ears.

I tried to run the other way, but before I could, the Basilisk flicked its head and sent me flying into the wall. I slid down, tasting blood. I laid where I fell, dazed, as I heard the massive serpent slither towards me.

Then, there was a loud, explosive spitting sound right above me and then something heavy slammed into the ground close by. Without thinking, I opened my eyes to look. The enormous serpent, bright, poisonous green, thick as an oak trunk, had raised itself high in the air and its great blunt head was weaving drunkenly between the pillars. I turned my head to see Fawkes swooping between the pillers, diving and pecking at the snakes face and eyes as the Basilisk snapped furiously at him with fangs long and thin as sabers. Fawkes dived. His long golden beak sank out of sight and a sudden shower of dark blood spattered the floor. The snake's tail

thrashed, narrowly missing me as it howled its rage and agony at the loss of its sight to the ceiling .

"NO!" screamed Riddle, "LEAVE THE BIRD! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOY IS BEHIND YOU! YOU CAN STILL SMELL HIM! KILL HIM!"

The blinded serpent swayed, confused, still deadly. Fawkes was circling its head, piping his eerie song, jabbing here and there at its scaly nose as the blood poured from its ruined eyes. I shook of the last of my daze and scrambled to my feet, sprinting towards the Hat. My only hope was the Sword, otherwise I was dead. I dove under a tail swipe and rammed the Hat on my head.

" _HELP!"_ I yelled.

"Of course Mr Potter, you only had to ask," said the Hat.

The hat contracted, as though an invisible hand was squeezing it very tightly and something very hard and heavy thudded onto the top of my head, almost knocking me out. I grabbed the top of the hat and pulled it off, yanking the sword from the hat, spun around and took my stance. It was only then that I realized that the sword wasn't quite what I was expecting. Instead of being an ornate, silver sword festooned with rubies, it was an Italian broadsword with a ruby set into the center of the guard.

I didn't have time to contemplate it however as the Basilisk lunged at me again. I instinctively met the lunge with one of my own, but not with the sword. Oh no, instead I punched the giant snake in the nose.

BOOM!

The force of the blow made the Basilisks momentum completely reverse, sending it flying back into the statue of Slytherin and created a massive gust of wind that nearly knocked Fawkes out of the air and blasted a huge amount of dust into the air and then away in a secondary shockwave. I couldn't help it, my jaw dropped in utter disbelief as I looked between my fist and the clearly dead Basilisk if the dent in its head was anything to go by. Then, I remembered where I was and spun around.

Apparently, I didn't need to worry about Tom though because he looked just as taken aback as me.

"You...what are you?!" he spluttered, "Your not Human! You can't be!"

I took a deep breath and bent down, picking up the diary from where it had been blown at my feet...somehow.

"What am I you ask?" I said, "Well, that should be obvious. I'm the hero."

Then, I crushed the diary in my hand. Like with my punching of various dangerous creatures, I'm not sure why I did it, but against all logic, it worked. The diary spurted ink like a squeezed lemon and the Riddle shade went up in smoke. With the threat gone, all the tension fled from my body and I collapsed, gasping for breath.

"I'm the hero?" I muttered, "God, why the hell did I say that?"

"Your right, it was cheesy," said the Hat from where he lay, "But it doesnt mean its not true. You saved Miss Weasley after all."

"I guess thats true," I muttered as I glanced over at the stirring Ginny.

She sat up, blinking blearily as she looked around. Her bemused eyes traveled from the huge form of the dead basilisk, over me, then to the remains of the diary. She drew a great, shuddering gasp and tears began to pour down her face and she flung herself into my arms.

"Brandon — oh, Brandon— I tried to tell you at b-breakfast, but I c-couldn't say it in front of Percy — it was me, Brandon," she sobbed, "But I — I s-swear I d-didn't mean to — R-Riddle made me, he t-took me over — and — how did you kill that — that thing? W-where's Riddle? The last thing I r-remember is him coming out of the diary —"

"It's all right," I said gently as I rubbed her back, "Riddle's finished. Look! Him and the basilisk.

C'mon, Ginny, let's get out of here —"

"I'm going to be expelled!" Ginny wept as I helped her awkwardly to her feet, "I've looked forward to coming to Hogwarts ever since B-Bill came and n-now I'll have to leave and — w-what'll Mum and Dad say?"

I opened my mouth to try and comfort her, but before I could, my vision blurred and swam and, for a brief moment, I got the sense of staring at something vastly more massive than anything I could comprehend before the feeling vanished. I shook my head to clear it, inwardly wondering what in the hell that was, but I quickly pushed the thought aside for now. It could wait, the distraught girl could not.

"Don't worry Ginny, you'll be fine," I said, "Take the diary, we can use it as evidence that you were controlled."

Ginny ignored me and just kept sobbing into my chest. I sighed and glanced over at Fawkes.

"Hospital wing please," I said, "NOT Dumbledore's office or anywhere else he might have told you to take us."

Fawkes gave an affirmative chirp, grabbed the hat and sword, and fluttered over to Ginny and I. He landed on my lap and we all vanished in a flash of fire that cleared to reveal the empty Hospital wing.

I hoisted the sleeping Ginny into my arms (she'd apparently cried herself out and succumb to the exhaustion of her ordeal) and placed her into one of the beds, just as the door to Pomfrey's office opened and the nurse emerged, wand in hand. At the sight of me, her jaw dropped.

"Mr Potter?" she asked, "What are…"

Then she spotted Ginny. She immediately shut her mouth and ran to the bed, waving her wand over the unconscious girl.

"She was possessed," I said, holding up the wrecked diary, "This was responsible. I destroyed it and I think the spirit is gone, but you should double check."

Pomfrey's lips thinned and her wand waving upped in intensity. It took another five minutes before she stopped.

"While shes Magically exhausted, she'll be fine," she said, "Although she could do with visiting a Mind Healer. Now Mr Potter, what happened and how did you end up saving her?"

I twitched. Something told me I was in for quite the lecture. Still, I trusted Pomfrey more than most of the idiots in this place since she was well known in the Magical Medical industry for being one of the best in the field, so I told her everything, only leaving out exactly how I killed the oversized grass snake. I wasn't quite sure how to explain the fact that I'd punched it hard enough to completely powderize its skull.

By the time I was finished, Pomfrey was staring at me with an unreadable expression on her face. After a moment, she sighed.

"That was a very brave and foolish thing to do," she said, "You could easily have been killed."

"Oh believe me, that thought was on my mind the entire time," I said with a rufil smile, "But...I couldn't just leave her. She might be annoying, but Ginny's just a kid. She doesn't deserve to die in a dark hole and be eaten by a giant snake."

Pomfrey sighed again.

"Your a good man Brandon," she said, "Better than your Father by far."

I scowled. That was an understatement and a half.

"Now, I'm going to give you a quick check up while we wait for the Headmaster and the Weasleys to arrive," said Pomfrey, "You don't look hurt, but you have just fought a Basilisk and I'd like to be sure. Hop up on the bed."

I did as I was told as Pomfrey sent off a Patronus before turning back to me.

* * *

By the time she was done, the doors of the Hospital wing came crashing open to reveal the Weasleys led by Mrs Weasley, who made an immediate beeline to the bed Ginny was in and started sobbing over her. Overdramatic cow. Actually, that might be a bit mean considering she thought her daughter was dead.

"Well, against all odds, your in perfect health," said Pomfrey, "Theres nothing wrong with you at all. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go and stop Molly from smothering my other patent. Do you mind waiting here for a while? I'm sure that Albus will like to speak with you and I have a feeling that you being here will help Miss Weasley remain calm. Plus, the school is still under lockdown, so its not a good idea to be wondering the halls."

I nodded as the matron walked over to the Weasleys and settled back on the bed to think. I had a lot to think about. Like the fact that I was somehow strong enough to kill something like a Basilisk by punching it, was completely unhurt, despite being smacked into a wall hard enough to break bones and I'd somehow destroyed a Horcrux by crushing it. How? How the hell had I done any of that? Then there was the odd feeling I'd felt during Ginny's breakdown.

I couldn't think of a single reason why it would be possible without some form of Empathic power, something that, if I did have it, would have popped up a long time before now. Then again, I suppose it could have been something Ginny had done. After all, even in adults, Accidental Magic wasn't unheard of when put in situations of intense stress and I had no doubt that the events of tonight had been the single worst experience of Ginnys life.

The sound of someone clearing their throat drew me out of my thoughts and I looked up to see a smiling Dumbledore stood at the side of my bed. I quickly schooled my face.

"Headmaster," I said cooly.

The headmasters expression faulted for a moment, but he manfully kept his smile in place.

"I understand we have you to thank for Miss Weasleys safe return," he said.

"Yes," I said.

"I see," said Dumbledore, "Could you tell me everything that happened? It will help us get to the bottom of it all."

I sighed softly. I didn't like or trust Dumbledore, but at the moment, he had no reason to turn on the Weasleys and every reason to keep them sweet. He was the best choice for keeping Ginny from getting blamed. With that in mind, I told him a modified story that was much closer to what happened in Canon than what actually happened. I didn't want him to know about my strength.

It took about ten minutes to fill the old man in on everything and hand him the Diary. By this point, the Weasleys were all listening in, with Mrs Weasley getting pailer and pailer and clinging to her Daughter as if she thought she'd vanish if she let go. When I finished, she burst into tears.

"Don't worry Molly," said Dumbledore reassuringly, "Ginny will be fine and I see no reason to punish her. People far older and wiser have been hoodwinked by Voldemort. Bedrest and a cup of hot coco is just the ticket for her to put this all behind her…"

Madam Pomfrey cleared her throat, cutting off the Headmaster.

"If you don't mind Headmaster, I will be the judge of that," she snapped, before turning to Mr Weasley, "Arthur, Ginny is physically fine, albeit magically and physically exhausted from her ordeal. Both can be fixed with a good nights rest and a good meal, but her mental state is far more serious. The act of possession is...incredibly traumatic, on par with rape, and in this case its even worse as she was nearly killed to restore the spirit in question. She needs to talk to someone and come to terms with it. I'll recommend some Mind Healers who can help."

Mr Weasley's expression went through a number of expressions, before resting on a mix of rage and helplessness.

"But...we can't afford a Mind Healer!" protested the balding man.

"I'll pay for it," I said, making everyone look at me.

Arthur looked rather nonplussed at the offer.

"Thank you for the offer Brandon, but…"

"Don't even think about saying you don't want charity," I said, cutting him off, "Ginny needs this if shes going to recover and I will not allow someone to suffer due to stubborness and misplaced pride."

I grinned.

"Besides, I have a feeling I'm about to come into a rather large windfall of cash."

Everyone stared at me.

"What are you talking about mate?" asked Ron.

"Well, since I killed the Basilisk, I'm claiming it by right of conquest," I said.

Dumbledore twitched slightly.

"Ah, Brandon my boy, that might not be…"

"Might not be what Professor?" I asked, "Are you saying I can't claim the body of the class 5 beast I killed single handedly?"

Dumbledore opened his mouth, before closing it and clearing his throat.

"Yes, well, as long as everyone is safe," he said, "If you'll excuse me, I need to go and lift the lockdown."

He turned and swept out of the room. I let out a sigh of relief. I didn't like being around Dumbledore, if only because I didn't want him trying to read my mind.

Suddenly, some deep seated instinct warned me of an incoming attack and I shot up, somehow pulling off a perfect handstand on the bed frame, allowing the incoming spell I recognized as a stinging charm shoot past where I'd been sitting. I blinked and glanced in the direction it had come from to see that Mrs Weasley had her wand out and pointed in my direction.

"Hey, what was that for?!" I demanded, ignoring the looks of utter shock I was getting as I dropped back to the floor.

The look of shock faded from Mrs Weasley's face in favour of a disapproving frown.

"You shouldn't talk to the Headmaster like that!" she said, "He knows best after all. If he doesn't think that you should claim the carcass, you shouldn't. I must say, I agree, a child shouldn't have that much money."

I stared at the large woman, not entirely sure if I should laugh or kick her through a wall. It was bad enough when she tried to control Harry in the original story, but here she didn't even really know me! I think we'd had maybe three conversations in my entire life and most of them could be boiled down to me telling her to leave me the hell alone.

"Mrs Weasley, I'm not sure where you get off trying to tell me what to do, but what I do is none of your goddamn business," I said, "I am well within my rights to claim the Basilisk carcass and do whatever the hell I want to with it. The law is very clear, not even my Father can tell me what to do with the body."

Mrs Weasley went purple.

"Why I never!" she exclaimed, getting to her feet.

"MUM, STOP!" shouted Ginny, who was apparently awake.

Immediately, Mrs Weasley's body locked up, pitching her face first into the floor as she was in the middle of stepping forwards. Complete silence fell as everyone, including me, stared at Ginny in complete shock. That...was completely unexpected. Where in the world had that even come from? It was as out of place as my own strength and durability! Even Ginny seemed stunned, judging from the way she was staring at her hands.

"What...was that?" stuttered Percy.

No one had a good answer.

* * *

The last few weeks of school also went by without good answers, not helped by the fact the Weasleys took their kids home with Dumbledores blessing. I wasn't really going to argue with that decision, although I did NOT agree with him canceling the exams. Did he even have the authority to do that for the OWL and NEWT students?

Anyway, in that time, I'd gotten in touch with the Goblins by sending a few copies of the letter with different owls and one through Muggle post, just to be safe. The letter I got back applauded my caution, but informed me that it wouldn't be needed. All Gringotts mail, ingoing or outgoing, wa protected by a rather impressive bit of Goblin magic that made it so it couldn't be intercepted without explicit permission from the Bank itself. They also informed me that they'd be happy to perform the rendering service in exchange for a reasonable sum and a portion of the raw material, mostly the meat. Since Basilisk meat is useless to Humans, other than in a few potions that were either incredibly Dark or had such specific uses that they were hardly ever needed, I was perfectly happy to agree. The rendering would be done over the holidays and the proceeds added to my Vault.

I also asked if they could recommend a good Mind Healer, but they weren't able to help with that.

However, since school was out, I'd have plenty of time to find a good one. Hell, I was already at it as I waited for the train to pull out thanks to Madam Pomfrey giving me a sheaf of flyers when I asked.

"You know, I know a good one," said a familer voice, making me look up.

I smiled at the sight of Luna stood in the door.

"Hi Luna, do you want to join me?" I asked.

"I would, thank you," said Luna, stepping into the compartment and heaving her Trunk onto the rack, "Now, as I was saying, I know someone who could help Ginny."

I blinked.

"You do?" I asked.

"Yes, I do," said Luna, "Shes very talented and has a lot of experience dealing with people with Wrackspurts and Snorkacks. I don't think shes ever had to deal with a Heliopath, but shes very good at her job."

I blinked a couple of times. Even after knowing her and spending a great deal of time with her over the last year, I still had no idea if she was being serious with her animals and was legitimately crazy, was actually seeing them with some unknown power, was a Seer of some kind or was completely trolling me. Frankly, any of them was as likely as the last with Luna.

"Well...can you give me her contact details?" I asked, "I'd like to speak with her first."

"Of course," said Luna, handing me a card.

I looked at it and blinked.

"Luna, this is a Muggle phone number," I said.

"I know," said Luna, "But she knows about the Wizarding world and will be happy to help."

"Well...if your sure," I said, tucking the card away, "So, how was your year?"

"Oh, it was fine," said Luna, "Some of my classmates are a little mean, but I dealt with them. What about you? How are you managing with the Code: Unknown?"

I stared at her.

"What?"

"Your Heliopath," said Luna, "You know, the thing that gives you your strength?"

I stared at her, my opening and closing in shock.

"Oh, sorry, was I not supposed to know that?" asked Luna, "Its so hard to keep the Timelines straght sometimes. Hmm, I wonder if Ginny'd doing OK with Authority?"

I blinked a few more times as Luna started muttering something about Dragons and worms or something, before shrugging and deciding that I didn't need the headache. Instead, I directed the conversation back to the more sane side of things.

* * *

The rest of the trip passed by without incident, other than a short visit by Hermione, who quickly left looking confused after talking with Luna for a few minutes. Surprisingly Draco didn't stop by, but I'm not going to complain.

* * *

Eventually, we got back to London where I quickly spotted James and Sirius stood off to the side, giving a rather large number of people the stink eye.

"Oh, theres my Mum," said Luna, pointing into the crowd, "Come and meet her!"

"Huh...WHOA!"

Before I could protest, Luna grabbed my hand and dragged me over to where a tall, attractive woman with long, black hair was standing, watching with amusement in her blue eyes. Other than her hair colour, Luna looked a lot like her and, if the woman's figure was anything to go by, Luna would be a knockout in a few years. She was wearing the Magical Worlds version of a womans suit and a fedora tilted at a jaunty angle. I hadn't actually ever met Fortuna Lovegood, despite the fact I knew of her and I'm pretty sure she was actually Harry's Godmother. My Father didn't like her very much, probably because she'd called him out on his bullshit more than once.

As we approached, Luna let go of my hand and flung herself into her Mothers arms, who caught her without any trouble.

"Hey there little Moon," she said, rubbing Luna's hair with a wide smile, "Did you have a good year?"

"Yep, sure did," said Luna, a mile wide grin on her face, "Oh, Mamma, this is Brandon Potter. Bran, this is my Mum."

"Nice to meet you," I said politely.

"Hmm, quite unlike your Father," said Fortuna, eyeing me up and down, "Although I suppose that was to be expected."

She eyed me for a moment longer, before smiling a smile that made a shiver go up my spine.

"I look forwards to seeing what sort of path you and my Daughter walk down," she said.

I blinked. That was an...odd thing to say.

"Um, thanks?" I said.

"Hey Fortuna, are we going to be much longer?" asked another woman who was stood nearby looking uncomfortable, "Only, I've got a pile of paperwork trying to eat my desk that needs doing."

I hid a frown as I took in the womans appearance. She looked young, late twenties at the latest, but something about the way she held herself made me thing she was older. She had long, straight black hair, gray eyes and was visibly hispanic. She had a lot of faded scaring around one eye and said eye looked like it was glass. Oddly enough, something about her made me thing I knew her, despite the fact I'd never seen her before in my life.

"Yes, of course," said Fortuna, "We're coming Becky."

She turned back to me.

"It was nice to meet you Brandon," she said, "Until next time."

She smiled and nodded, before leading Luna and the other woman away, the two elder women discussing something in low voices as they headed for the barrier with Luna skipping behind them. I stared after them, not entirely sure what to make of the odd interaction, before a large and familiar hand landed on my shoulder.

"There you are Brandon!" boomed James, dragging me into a hug.

I grimoused at the smell of BO that hung around my Father and the fact that it looked like he'd gained weight again.

"Hello Father," I said.

"Oh, don't be like that!" said James, "Now come on, lets go home. I want to hear all about your year!"

I sighed and grimoused again, but allowed my Father to lead me away. Not long now and I could, hopefully, get away from the asshole. It couldn't come sooner in my opinion

 **And that'll do. Honestly, the next chapter will probably be really short since I don't have any plans for anything of interest to happen over the Third year and I really want to get to the Fourth. If I decide to continue this.**

 **Sooo, wanna guess what I have in mind for this? You probably can seeing as I haven't been particularly subtle with it. At all. I'll be more surprised if you can figure out exactly what Harry's been up to until now and who hes been living with. There is a clue in there if you look and have read my other stuff.**

 **I...have nothing more to say. This is going to take a while to edit as it is, so I'm going to sign out and get started. Don't forget to leave a review!**


	3. Chapter 3

Outsider Chronicles: Thats So Wrong

Getting reborn into the world of Harry Potter is...interesting. I'm sure that many reading would think that it'd be great, but what if you were Harry's sibling in a WBWL story? Yeah, thats me. Now I have to deal with annoying parents, gold diggers and annoying 'friends'. Still, its not all bad. At least Harry's new family and friends are the hero type.

 **...well, I wasn't expecting the reactions I got for this story, although hardly anyone actually guessed what I had in mind and no one correctly guessed which version of Harry it'd be. Heres another clue, hes not an Outsider. With that said, lets get started...with a chapter that is almost entirely for those people who demanded Black Rabbit putting in an appearance. Remember, this is NOT crossed over with Problem Children. Enjoy!**

Chapter 3

You know, most kids my age look forwards to the Summer Holidays, but not me. Last year, my Father had largely left me be, other than occasionally dragging me out to show me off like some prized dog, but for some reason, he was even worse this year! It probably had something to do with the slaying of the Basilisk considering he'd been leaking it everywhere he could. I'd even had to suffer through an interview with the Wizarding Wireless, during which I'd spent most of the time wanting desperately to repeat my feat with the Basilisks skull on the moron interviewing me. As a result, I hadn't had chance to do any of the things I had planned for the Summer and it didn't look like James would be letting up any time soon.

Then, the chance to escape came, quite out of nowhere, on a warm day where I had a few hours to myself and was taking advantage of it by enjoying the sun the the Potter mansion gardens.

"Urrrg, so bored!" I groaned, stretching out my arms, "I need to find something to do that doesn't involve sycophants…"

I sighed and closed my eyes, intending to take a nap. Before I could drop off however, there was a quite pop from next to me and I opened one eye to see one of the House Elves stood next to me.

"Tippy is sorry for disturbing Master Bran, but Master Bran has a letter," said the Elf.

I blinked. I hadn't been expecting any mail and it usually arrived with breakfast.

"I see," I said, taking the letter, "Thank you Tippy."

The Elf bowed and popped away as I examined the letter. It looked perfectly normal, with my name scrawled across the front in red ink and a seal on the back depicting a coiled serpent or dragon I didn't immediately recognize. I opened the letter, trusting that the Wards and Elves would have dealt with anything potentially harmful, and pulled out the letter inside.

* * *

The Burrow

Ginny Weasley sighed as she shut her bedroom door. Her summer had been going...strangely. Between the strange powers she'd had since the...incident, the Mind Healer she'd been talking to every week (and hadn't her Mother been angry when she'd found out that Bran had been paying her directly instead of giving the Weasleys the money for them to pay. Ginny wasn't entirely sure why she'd been angry and she had a nasty feeling she wouldn't like the reason when she found out) and the realizations she'd come to as a result of talking to said Mind Healer, she was mentally rather tired by this point. It certainly didn't help that her Mother had been smothering her even more than normal, to the point where Dr Yamada had had to kick her out of the room they were using at least once a session.

Speaking of which, Ginny couldn't help but feel that she owned the good doctor a lot more than just for helping her get over her encounter with Tom. During the first session, Dr Yamada had made it clear that Ginny was the one in control of the conversation, that if she didn't want to talk about something, or at all for that matter, that was fine. To begin with, Ginny had been hesitant, not least of which due to the Wizarding World's impression of Muggle physicians which Yamada technically was, although she was also a Squib, hence why she could work with magicals. However, after a couple of sessions, Ginny had opened up to the older woman and been able to talk about her experience with Tom, guided by the patent womans subtle cues and questions to keep the conversation going.

However, that wasn't all they talked about. They had also discussed other things, from Ginnys rather narrow view of the world, to her relationship with her family and even the (in hindsight, rather creepy) infatuation she'd had with Bran or, to be more precise, the image she had of the BWL. It was rather ironic really. Before the last year, she'd have been ecstatic to have her power that would allow her to get the very thing she wanted with a simple sentence, but now the very thought of taking control of someone in that way made her feel sick. Hell, even the story her Mother often told of how she and her Father had got together thanks to a love potion that she used to think was romantic now made her uncomfortable.

Despite that and the horrific experience, she couldn't help but feel a little grateful to Tom. Thanks to him, she had been set on the path to becoming a decent person and would hopefully find someone she liked for real, rather than having a deliberating crush on an ideal that was entirely fictional.

* * *

Ginny sighed again as she walked across the room towards her bed. However, as she passed her desk, she noticed something out of place. She paused and took a second look. Yep, still there. Sitting on top of her desk was a letter addressed to her that hadn't been there that morning. She frowned as she moved closer, pulling out her wand and casting a detection spell she'd learnt to detect any enchantments on an item. After finding nothing, she picked up the letter and turned it, her frown deepening at the sight of the unfamiliar crest on the back.

"Who'd send me a letter like this?" she muttered, "And how did it get here?"

Now really curious, she opened the letter and pulled out the note inside.

* * *

Granger Household, Croydon

Had anyone at Hogwarts ever met Anne Granger, Hermione's younger sister by one year, they would likely have had a hard time believing that they were siblings. While both girls had dark brown hair and eyes and were among the smartest in their classes, Anne's hair was cropped into a short, pageboy cut, making it much more manageable, and the petite girl was far, far more introverted than her sister. Despite being just as smart as her sister, Anne didn't shove it in other people's faces or even really take that much pride in it.

The truth was, even if she was the type, she wouldn't get many chances to show off her brains considering she spent most of her time in hospital. Ever since she was a baby, Anne had been a rather fragile individual, resulting in a lot of time spent off school or in hospital. As a result, along with her natural shyness, she didn't have any friends her own age, other than her pet cat Calico and was often lonely thanks to her parents long hours and her sisters aenal and know-it-all nature making spending time with her difficult after they reached school age. Oh, don't get her wrong, Anne loved Hermione dearly, but she was still better dealt with in small doses. Honestly, you'd have thought the girl would have figured out that shoving your brains in kids faces was a recipe for disaster.

Somehow, Hermione had got even worse after she got her Hogwarts letter, something that Anne had to admit made her rather jealous. What little girl didn't want to go of to a magical castle and learn magic? Unfortunately, she knew that, even if she did get a letter next year, there would be no way that Anne could attend thanks to her weak constitution. There had been a brief flicker of hope when they'd met Mcgonigal, but that had been dashed when her Parents had bought up the possibility of Magical help. Unfortunately, while Magic could do a lot, it couldn't fix Anne.

That didn't stop her from getting a letter the next year though for reasons that she wasn't entirely sure of, although apparently the letters were automatic. The realization that she had the potential to be a Witch yet was unable to thanks to her stupid weak body was an unpleasant one, but Anne had basically resigned herself to that by this point, so it wasn't that hard to deal with.

However, despite that, that year also provided a jolt that would change Anne's life for the better. To bad it had to come with a letter that carried nothing but bad news. Her parents tried to keep it from her, but that didn't stop her from overhearing that her sister was in the hospital. Details were sparse, other than the fact that she was alive, but unresponsive.

Now, long weeks in the Hospital, combined with being the Daughter of two medical doctors, even if they were dentists, meant that Anne was well aware of what that could mean. The idea that her sister, her only Human friend, no matter how annoying she could be at times, could have been injured badly enough to be in a coma was one of the single worst moments of her life and she'd ended up fainting.

She still wasn't entirely sure what had happened while she had been unconscious, but when she'd woken up, she'd known that something had changed. For starters, she felt strong. Much stronger than she ever had before and, when she'd moved to get out of bed, she'd found that she no longer needed her crutches. She felt whole and healthy for the first time in her life and, ironically, that new strength nearly made her collapse again. Her Parents had been understandably surprised and the Doctors were no different when, after so many tests she'd lost count, they had declared her to be 100% healthy with none of the issues she'd had the day before.

It hasn't been until she'd got home that she'd discovered that she could now understand animals. Her reaction had been...odd. Most people would probably have freaked out, but Anne had just started for a moment before accepting it. She was a remarkably adaptable person.

Following that, she'd experimented and found that, not only could she talk to any animal she met, she also had the ability to take on the animal's abilities after befriending them. However, that was secondary to the ability to speak to her friends.

She spent the next year putting her gift to the test, speaking with any animal she met and increasing the number of friends to include everything from dogs, cats, various types of birds, the flock of bats that lived in an abandoned house in her neighbourhood and even the penguins at her local zoo.

* * *

Currently, she was sat at the bottom of the vast gardens of her family home, talking with some of her feathered friends, when Calico came running up with a letter in his mouth. Anne looked down at her friend as he hopped up on her lap.

"Is that for me?" she asked.

The cat nodded and she took the letter, flipping it over to see a crest she didn't recognize on the back. Knowing that the Wards wouldn't allow anything dangerous in, she broke the seal and pulled out the letter.

* * *

 _ **Dear Special Children,**_

 _ **You are hereby invited to a once in a lifetime event, to play and fight alongside us and experience a summer unlike any other! Friendship, magic and a world of fun await you here at the Little Garden!**_

* * *

Separated by miles, three letters began to glow and three children felt a hook behind the navel that dragged them, quite impossibly, away from their homes, through Wards meant to keep such a thing from happening, and into a world of swirling colours...right before the world reasserted itself and the found themselves high above a forested area that gave an excellent view of the vast theme park laid out before them as they plummeted to what might well be their deaths.

* * *

Back to Bran

I barely had enough time to register the change in local, before the fact I was plummeting towards a large pond hit me.

"WHAT THE FLYING FU…"

I was cut off by the impact with the water that, surprisingly, didn't immediately pancake my companions. Considering how tough I was, I'd have survived it no problem. I turned in the water and started swimming to the surface. Less than a minute later, we were back on the surface, trying to get the water out of our clothes. It was at that point that I realized that one of the girls was Ginny and the other was a young brunette I didn't recognize off the bat. She definitely didn't attend Hogwarts.

"Well, that was certainly interesting," I said as I emptied water out of my ear.

"Thats one way to put it," grumbled Ginny.

"So, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you two got strange letters to?" I asked.

"Yep," said Ginny as the strange girl nodded as she dried off her feline companion.

I eyed the girl for a moment, before turning my attention to Ginny. We could introduce ourselves in a moment since she seemed to be more interested in making sure her cat was OK.

"So, how are you doing Ginny?" I asked.

"Oh, um, much better thanks," said the red-head, her cheeks pinking slightly.

It wasn't anything as bad as it had been though and she was holding herself in a way that suggested that she wasn't quite as infatuated with me anymore.

"Thank you for hiring Dr Yamada," she continued, "Talking to her helped a lot more than I thought it was. Mum wasn't to pleased, but...thanks."

I smiled.

"Its no problem," I said, "Like I said in school, its not fair that you should go without help because your family doesn't have enough money to pay for it."

Ginny smiled and nodded. With that done, I turned my attention back to the blonde and her cat.

"So, we know each other, but who are you?" I asked.

...Anne Granger," she said, "Call me Anne. This is Calico."

My eyebrows shot up.

"Granger?" I asked, "Your related to Hermione?"

The girl nodded.

"Yes, shes my sister."

"Really? Huh…"

"Nice to meet you Anne," said Ginny, "I'm Ginny and this is Bran."

The girl nodded slightly with an equally slight smile.

"So, any idea why we're here?" I asked, "Or where here is?"

"The letter said something about an event at Little Garden," said Ginny, "I think thats a Magical amusement park, right?"

"Well, that explains the where, but not the why," I said, catching sight of movement in the bushes, "So, shall we ask the person lurking in the bushes?"

There was a muffled yelp and the head I could see darted back out of sight.

"Ohh, good eyes," said Ginny, "I take it you saw them to Anne?"

The blonde shook her head.

"Not saw, smelt," she said.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, aren't you an interesting one?" I muttered.

I raised my voice.

"Hey, we know your there, so stop hiding!"

There was a rustle from the treeline and I narrowed my eyes. I didn't like this. I tensed my legs.

"If your not going to come out, I'll come and get you!" I shouted.

There was a yelp of surprise that quickly became a scream of shock as I jumped across the clearing and smashed the tree and a good portion of the ground around it to bits, forcing the person hiding there to jump out, revealing...a young woman with long, blue hair, red eyes and bunny ears, wearing a black collar with white frills, a black, double breasted thigh length vest, a red mini skirt, black stockings supported by garters, red shoes and large wrist cuffs. My eyebrows nearly went into orbit at the sight.

"Whats with the outfit?" asked Ginny.

"Cosplay?" murmured Anne.

I decided not to ask how Anne knew about cosplay, mainly because I was to busy trying to decide how I should react to Black Rabbit. Somehow, I knew this was going to be fun.

"W-what? No, Black Rabbit doesn't cosplay!" protested the bunny girl, "This is...AH!"

She was cut off as I jumped at her again, mostly because I wanted to see her reaction. She jumped out of the way, landing in a tree, only to be forced to vacate her perch as Anne jumped up after her and started chasing her through the canopy with impressive agility. That is until a flock of birds suddenly started attacking her, resulting in her losing her balance and falling to the ground with a thump.

"Oww, that really hurt!" moaned the rabbit girl, rubbing her no doubt aching behind.

She twitched with a yelp of shock as we suddenly stepped up in front of her, glaring down at her. I was mostly going along with it because it was rather funny to see her reactions.

"Alright, who are you?" I asked.

"A bunny girl?" asked Ginny.

"AH, n-now lets not do anything haisty!" yelped the girl, "I'm your frie...AHHH!"

She yelped in pain as Anne suddenly grabbed an ear.

"AHHH, your so mean, pulling off Black Rabbits wonderful ears!" cried the girl, "Its barbaric, its harrasment! Do you get some perverse pleasure out of hurting her or something?!"

"This peaks my curiosity," said Anne, a look of amusement on her face.

Black Rabbit freed herself from the blondes grip and spun around.

"Y-you can't just do as you please!" she snapped.

Unfortunately, she'd put herself directly between Ginny and I and I was having far to much fun not to continue the gag.

"Crazy, so these are real then?" I asked as I grabbed one ear.

It was rather soft and warm, not unlike an actual rabbits ear.

"I wanna see," said Ginny, grabbing the other one.

"AHHH, oh no, don't do that!" screamed Black Rabbit, "Black Rabbits ears are...AHHHHH!"

* * *

Eventually, we took pity on the poor bunny and let her go. She quickly scuttled out of range, nursing her abused ears as she muttered to herself.

"I can't believe this," she muttered, "This must be what they call a lack of discipline in the classroom! Why am I stuck with such troublemakers?!"

"Shut up and talk already," I said as I dropped down on a small hillock that made a perfect seat.

"Alright fine," grumbled Black Rabbit.

She got to her feet, took a deep breath and spun around, a wide smile on her face.

"Welcome, all of you, to the Little Garden!" she said, spreading her arms wide, "The world's only Magical Theme park and home to all manner of wonders unlike anything you've ever seen before!"

She waved a hand and the trees behind her somehow shifted away to reveal the vast expanse of land that was full of all manner of rides, tents, buildings and crowds of people moving around. The sounds of screams, laughter and the general noise that came with any theme park drifted up on the winds as whatever enchantment that had been hiding them vanished.

"The three of you have been invited here personally by Lady Abby to take part in a special event where you can put your unique powers to the test!"

"Whose Lady Abby?" asked Anne, sounding interested.

"Shes the owner and founder of the Park," said Black Rabbit, "Shes...unique, but very powerful and interested in the three of you."

"Huh, thats interesting," I muttered, "So, do we have to come?"

"Of course not," said Black Rabbit, "If you don't want to play, we'll send you straight home to your normal, boring lives. Or, you can come and have fun with us and learn all sorts of amazing things, win prizes and meet new friends!"

"New friends?" asked Anne, looking even more interested.

Black Rabbit smiled and nodded.

"Of course," she said, "New friends, new foes, new rivels, new knowledge, new fights, new things to see and do. All of these and more can be found here in Little Garden!"

She spread her arms again.

"So, what do you say?" she asked, "Will you come join us?"

"You had me at having fun," I said, getting to my feet, "My summers being boring till now and anything that can get me away from my ass of a Father for a bit is good in my book."

Ginny smiled and stood.

"I'm in to," she said, "I need to get away from Mum for a bit anyway or I'll go mad."

Anne stood as well, her cat in her arms.

"I want new friends," she said softly.

Black Rabbits smile widened even further and she was practically jumping in joy.

"Excellent!" she exclaimed, "Come on, now your sticking around for a while, Lady Abby wants to meet you!"

She beckoned and we followed her off the hill and down towards the park far below.

* * *

It took surprisingly little time to reach the park proper where Black Rabbit led us confidently through the crowds of people having fun. I couldn't help but notice that a good number of the employees had features that weren't entirely Human, ranging from animal ears and tails, to a few that had Demonic features. I'm pretty sure I even saw a Succubus walking around. I couldn't help but smirk. This place was certainly looking to be very interesting.

"This place is beautiful," said Ginny as we made our way down a street lined with cherry trees that were somehow in full bloom.

"Getting Cherry trees to bloom this late in the year is quite the feat," I said, "I assume some kind of Magic is involved?"

"Lady Abby's power allows for a lot of things," said Black Rabbit.

I frowned. That...didn't quite answer the question, but before I could push, Anne spoke up.

"Hey, is that where we're going?" she asked, pointing at a building with a familiar snake crest on the sign.

"Yes, thats…" started Black Rabbit, but was cut off by a loud yell of joy and a white blur shooting out of the building in question.

"OH BLACK RABBIT, I'VE MISSED YOU!" yelled the blur as it tackled the bunny girl, sending both of them into the canal that ran alongside the path.

I sighed. For some reason, I was utterly surprised to see that the blur was apparently a Shiroyasha lookalike who was, naturally, molesting Black Rabbit.

"GAH, ABBY YOU LITTLE PERV!" yelled the bunny girl, "GET THE HELL OFF ME!"

She grabbed the diminutive demon(?) by the head and tossed her away in my direction. My response was to kick her in the stomach, sending her crashing to the ground.

"HEY! You don't just kick a beautiful girl when shes flying at you for the first time!" yelled the silver haired girl, "Where are your manners?!"

"Heh, the names Brandon," I said, "Nice to meet you, loli cat thing."

"Why am I the only one who ends up all wet?" moaned Black Rabbit as she climbed out of the canal.

* * *

A few minutes later, we were in a Japanese style meeting room, sat before the Shiroyasha look-a-like.

"Howdy," she said, "I'm the owner of the Little Garden, Abaddon, but you can call me Abby."

I blinked.

"Abaddon?" I asked, "Isn't that a Demons name?"

Abaddon smirked.

"It is, but I'm a little older than any Human religion," she said.

"Huh…"

"You mentioned in the letter that you knew about our powers," said Ginny, apparently taking that bit of information in stride, "How?"

Abaddon's smile grew, showing off a set of sharp, if rather adorable, fangs.

"Why, because I'm the one who gave them to you," she said.

"What? Why?" I asked, a little taken aback, "And how?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," said Abaddon with a shrug, "Although...I'm not entirely convinced that Fortuna can deal with those two idiots without making something worse. I want to make sure that, if the worst happens, nothing happens to this world. I happen to like it."

She smirked.

"As for how, lets just say that giving powers is what my kind do."

I blinked a couple of times, before it clicked.

"Oh you have got to be…" I started, but was cut off when Abaddon pointed at me and my tongue glued itself to the roof of my mouth.

"Ahh, none of that," she said, "Theres no fun in blurting it out like that."

I swallowed as my tongue came loose, feeling rather odd about the fact that I was sitting across from something that could casually obliterate entire planets who apparently owned an amusement park and did things for the amusement value. I didn't even know things like her were capable of that!

The other two lucky(?) kids glanced between Abaddon and I with obvious confusion on their faces.

"Riiight, well, whatever, I'm more interested in finding out what you have in mind for us," said Ginny.

"Well, I really want to see what you three are capable of," said Abaddon, leaning forwards with a worrying gleam in her eyes, "Code: Unknown, Authority and Genome Tree, three of the strongest powers I've ever created...yes, I would be very interested to see what you can do."

I blinked and smirked.

"Oh, you do do you?" I asked, getting to my feet, "In that case, why don't you show us what you've got?"

Black Rabbit looked surprised.

"W-wait, what?" she gasped, "You can't mean to…"

Anne and Ginny stood up, cutting the rabbit girl off.

"I'd be interested in seeing that to," said Ginny with a slight smirk, "My powers given me a new appreciation for seeing...interesting things and testing myself."

"I'm interested to," said Anne.

Abaddon looked between the three of us for a moment, before a smirk of her own appeared.

"Ohhh, so you want to play a game with me?" she asked, "Or is it a duel you really want?"

She lifted a hand and snapped her fingers. The world did something extremely strange and, in the space of a blink, we found ourselves stood on bare rock, looking up at what looked like a vast mountain range made up of countless, crystalline peaks that gleamed brightly in the light of the sun that was beating down on the desolate land with a dark gray sky. Abaddon was floating in the air before us, a wide grin on her lips and her eyes glowing crimson.

"Welcome, foolish Humans, to my world," said Abaddon, spreading her arms wide.

I blinked, trying to figure out what she was talking about, before the mountains behind her shifted. It was at that point that I realized that they were not, in fact, mountains, but instead were part of...something that was so vast that, no matter how massive the 'mountains' had appeared, they had nothing on the fact I was now realizing that they were so far away that the bases were actually beyond the curvature of whatever planet we were on. I watched, eyes wide and brain whimpering as it tried desperately to properly register what it was seeing, as a crimson orb with a slit down the center opened in the sky. No, thats not right, the SKY was hidden behind the creature!

There was a muffled thump from beside me and some part of me that wasn't completely in shock noticed that Ginny had fallen over while Anne was doing a good impression of one of the Basilisks victims, her eyes widen in utter horror.

Then, as suddenly as it had come, the world flickered and we found ourselves back in the meeting room. Immediately, I let out the breath I didn't know I'd been holding, nearly collapsing forwards as every muscle in my body turned to jelly. That was...I don't even know how to explain it! And Abaddon was supposed to be a SMALL one?! Fuck me…

"So, still want to test me?" asked Abaddon, smiling angelically.

I swallowed.

"I'm good," I said, a little horsley.

"What the FUCK was that?!" gasped Anne, her eyes still wide and sweat dripping from her forehead.

"Oh, just my real body," said Abaddon cheerally.

Now we were all staring at her warily.

"Anyway, I'm sure you're wondering why I bought you here, right?"

"I...guess so," I said, shaking off the effects of being confronted by something beyond Human understanding.

Abaddon smiled and snapped her fan open.

"The anniversary of the Little Gardens opening is coming up," she said, "You might have heard of it, yes?"

I shook my head. Father wasn't really keen on foreign news and, as such, it was rather hard to get it at times.

"Every year, I hold a little festival to celebrate the opening of the park," said Abaddon, "The events include games, a parade and a tournament. Usually, that would be a simple dueling torment, but this year will be a little different. Rather than being limited to Wanded Magic, I've partnered with a bored Watcher to hold a showcase of other powers and skills from all over the Multiverse. Yes, I said Multiverse. However, I do rather need some representatives of my own and, since your powers come from me, your the perfect choice. Well, other than White Rabbit, but hes a bit busy at the moment."

She muttered something about annoying morons. I narrowed my eyes.

"Your talking about a combat tournament," I said.

"I am indeed," said Abaddon, "And the contestants are all people who can easily match or even outclass you in terms of sheer power. Chances are, you won't have to hold back, especially since the matches will be taking part in enclosed pocket dimensions. So, interested?"

The three of us glanced at each other, grinned and nodded.

"Count us in," we all said at the same time.

Abaddon's grin matched ours.

"Excellent," she said.

 **You know, I planned to keep going with this until I finished the matches, but...I've decided I'm gonna post it! As an added bonus, I actually now have an idea for the Third year, although it still likely won't be very long.**

 **Now heres the next question, who do you want to see our Terrible Trio fight? You have literally no limitations, so long as they're world appeared in an Outsider story. I may not use them since I already have some plans for possible opponents. They should be rather strong though.**

 **I...really don't think I need to spell out who and what Abaddon really is, do I? No, of course I don't, its blatantly obvious.**

 **I had a few ideas for who could hold Ginome Tree after I decided I might as well go all out with the Problem Children elements. I started with Gabby, but then I had an interesting idea, so I changed it to Hermiones OC sister. Said idea fell through, but I have other ideas that'll be fun, so I kept her. Most of those ideas involve Anne giving her sister a headache due to being a Problem Child.**

 **If your wondering why Ginny's personality has changed, its due to a combination of her experience with Riddle, talking with Dr Yamada and her power. Abaddon's Shards don't make people seek out conflict per say, instead, they make them more battle happy. They won't go looking to start fights, but they'll sure as hell finish them and have a ton of fun while doing it. Its part of the fact that Abaddon is the Problem Child of the Entities since, you know, Shiroyasha.**

 **Yes, that was Dr Yamada's Earth Magi counterpart. Yes, shes just as memeishly good as the one on Bet. If your wondering, shes a Muggleborn and works in both worlds. Oh, um, yes, this is crossed over with Worm. You know, if you haven't figured it out yet.**

 **Anyway, this is done. Since these chapters are longer, don't expect updates to be as quick as they have been in the past. Until next time, please leave a review!**


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